We are planning to spend 5 days, see the parade and a show. We have been to New York only once before.Need help with hotels, restaurants, shopping & sightseeing choices. We are a family of 4 (two teenage girls). Thank you.

1. Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People will be in town by then at the Guggenheim museum 11/16 - 3/3/02. [Was in Chicago, DC. San Diego and Phoenix]

2. Night before the parade they inflate the balloons near The Museum of Nat. History. Do this too. This year it is the 75th anniversary of the parade.

2a. Buy The New York Times the Wednesday before the Parade. Macy's lists all parade participants in order in a display ad in the first section. This way you will know everyone - including the TV stars that NBC is promoting.

I was in NYC this past Thanksgiving weekend and had a great time. The city is decorated for the holidays. The Rockette's Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall will get you into the holiday spirit, as will going and seeing all of the department store window displays.

We were fortunate enough to be in the city for the entire week and managed to see several plays in the beginning of our stay. We noticed that the availability of tickets at the 1/2 price booth definitely dwindled as the week went on.

Take the Staten Island Ferry to get a view of the Statue of Liberty. It's free and the ride back and forth only takes around an hour. Also plan on seeing the Empire State Building in the evening hours when there are fewer lines.

As for shopping, the choices are unlimited. Your daughters will probably enjoy the Village and Soho for some more unusual clothing choices, but make sure to take them to the big department stores as well (Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue).

And while you're out roaming around, make sure to stop and treat yourselves to some hot roasted nuts sold on many of the street corners. They'll warm your hands in the cold, windy weather and are so yummy!

I would definitely get tickets ahead of time for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes X-mas show. They also have a "backstage" tour, if you are into the theatre thing! Museum of Radio and TV is supposed to be good, as well.

I was in NY for Thanksgiving weekend two years ago and had a good time but I just wanted to warn you that the hotels raise room rates that weekend a LOT, so it will not be cheap. I stayed at the Paramount in Times Square and a normal $175/day room was $275/day that weekend. I checked around and that was common pricing, so what can you do--I arrived Thursday early afternoon to avoid the parade. The only good thing was that the rate was lower on Thanksgiving night itself, then went way up on Fri and Sat nights for some reason. I also booked tickets ahead of time and paid full price for a couple Broadway shows because they were popular and it was important to me to see them, that's one reason I was going. So I paid more, but could not have gotten in without those advance tickets as the seats were almost completely sold out several months head. Also, the Met was extremely crowded that weekend, so be prepared.

I've heard the Mayflower Hotel on the Park has a great view of the parade from a park-side room -- and the windows open. It's a great location and usually pretty reasonable, although I bet it goes sky high for the parade -- if there are even any vacancies this late in the year. Worth looking into, though.